From the Rhino liner notes:
"From a personal point of view, this was easily the most drug-influenced record of my career. I say this without any sober piety or in order to glory in it with indulgent hindsight but because it is true. It was completed close to a self-induced nervous collapse on a diet of rough “scrumpy” cider, gin and tonic, various powders, only one of which was “Andrews’ Liver Salts”, and, in the final hours, Seconal and Johnnie Walker Black Label. The barely coherent ramblings of my addled brain were gradually beaten into some shape by the relentless re-working of melodies and lyrical fragments, many of which pre-dated my professional career. The radical shift from the innocence of those early drafts of the cynical and jagged texts contained in the final record is only balanced by one or two precisely constructed compositions, most notably, “Shot With His Own Gun” — the first result of having bought a Bechstein baby grand piano in early 1980.

The poise and calm of several of the cuts belies the wild mood swings and the violent hangover through which most of this music was recorded. “New Lace Sleeves”, in particular, is among the finest of The Attractions’ ensemble performances. That the song itself is mostly concerned with the tension between passion and the emotionally suppressing influence of “being civilized” is an irony that we can all enjoy with twenty years or more of hindsight.